Brown Blasts Trump Union-Busting at Department of Defense in Cleveland and Nationwide

Washington, DC – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Department of Defense (DOD) to terminate all collective bargaining agreements between DOD and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). This brazen attack on workers’ rights and federal workers will impact over 300,000 DOD employees nationwide, including thousands of Defense Finance and Accounting Service workers in the Cleveland-area. 

Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) strongly condemns this attack on federal workers and will stand shoulder to shoulder with them to restore their rights. 

Brown is a cosponsor of the Protect America’s Workforce Act (H.R. 2550), legislation to protect collective bargaining rights for federal employees. The House passed the Protect America’s Workforce Act last year, after Brown and House Democrats forced a vote with a discharge petition, but the legislation has been blocked by the Republican-controlled Senate. 

Congresswoman Brown releases the following statement: 

“Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, two unqualified and incompetent hacks who don’t know a thing about public service or hard work, just tore up union contracts at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and across DOD. That reckless move targets thousands of workers in Cleveland who actually keep this country running and keep our servicemen and servicewomen paid, in times of peace and times of war. 

“This is the same destructive and disgraceful anti-worker playbook they’ve run at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Transportation Security Administration, and across government. We’ve fought back and we’ve won before, and we will do so again.

“There is only one reason why Trump and Hegseth would do this: to undermine workers and attack our federal workforce.

“I’m standing with our federal workers today, and I vow to fight this tooth and nail. The Senate needs to pass the Protecting America’s Workforce Act now. We are not going to let these two charlatans spit in the face of workers and unions and attack the working men and women of this country.”

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